In This Issue: - Riverside County Bar Association

Stringfellow Memories
by Douglas F. Welebir
In the early 1980s, a group of citizens led by Penny
Newman organized to seek compensation for a myriad of
injuries that they related to the presence of what became
known as the Stringfellow Acid Pits. This dump site was
established by the State of California as a repository for
industrial waste from the manufacturing firms of Southern
California. Eventually, 32 million gallons (plus or minus) of
volatile organic compounds, heavy metals, pesticides, DDT,
herbicides, and other byproducts of manufacturing were
trucked and dumped into open ponds north of Highway 60
above the community of Glen Avon. The waste leaked into
the groundwater through the permeable unsealed bottoms
of the pits, evaporated naturally into the air, and was forceevaporated
through a spray system that misted the liquid
contents into the air, to be borne away on the prevailing
winds from the northeast. In heavy rain years, the ponds
were inundated with water, to the point that once, the
“dam” was intentionally breached by the operator and the
contents allowed to flow down through the community.
Tom Duggan and Tony Klein of Klein, Wegis & Duggan
in Bakersfield were retained to represent a group of potential
plaintiffs that eventually swelled to 4,400. All of the
claims were individualized, from wrongful death to diminution
in property value, and the task was immense. The
New York/San Diego firm of Milberg, Weiss, Bershad &
Lerach was associated in because of its experience in mass
torts.
In 1990, after more than five years of pleading and
discovery wars between the plaintiffs and scores of defendants,
during which I had made a few appearances as
“local counsel,” I was retained as lead trial counsel for the
plaintiffs. During the two years leading up to the commencement
of trial, I worked full-time, with a team of 10
to 12 lawyers provided by my co-counsel, organizing the
evidence, witnesses, and experts covering the spectrum of
scientific knowledge. One of the most memorable experts
was Cesare Maltoni, M.D., from the Italian Institute of
Oncology in Bologna, who had first established the link
between exposure to industrial chemicals and cancer.
Psychologists, hydrologists, geologists, organic chemists,
industrial chemists, chemical engineers, meteorologists,
dermatologists, neurologists, and almost as many other
“ists” as can be imagined were involved on both sides of
the case.
The defense teams were led by Barry Goode for the large
dumpers, Stanley Orrock for the County of Riverside, and
Howard Halm and Dan Buckley for the State of California.
Barry Goode once told me that during the pendency of the
litigation, more than 1,000 lawyers had worked on the case
for the defense.
Judge Victor Miceli assigned the case to newly appointed
Judge E. Michael Kaiser, who embraced the challenge,
using some of the most innovative and advanced casemanagement
techniques ever enforced. Through a simultaneous
ADR track with Judge Miceli, Jack Trotter of JAMS,
retired federal District Judge Lawrence Irving and others,
some individual defendants and small groups of defendants
began settling. During Kelly-Frye hearings and multiple
deposition tracks, the plaintiffs were forced to refine their
theories and claims.
As trial approached, Judge Kaiser established a process
through which 14 representative plaintiffs were selected as
the first “test plaintiffs,” so that with a finding of liability,
the value of representative damage claims could be established,
with the goal of additional settlements.
In August 1992, jury selection began with time qualification
and hardship screening. For two and a half months,
at an unremitting pace, a pool of time-qualified jurors
was winnowed from 1,854 prospective venire members.
Concurrently, the parties engaged Tilden-Coil to design
and build a custom courtroom in an old beauty school facing
Ninth Street. It featured all the amenities, including
a jury box for 24 jurors and a fully interactive courtroom,
with state-of-the-art electronics (long before the O.J. trial):
monitors for the judge, clerk, court reporter, witness, and
every counsel table (for 32 lawyers), telestrators, laser disc
players, bar code readers, duplicators, a sound system,
and more. Judge Kaiser appointed an Evidence Master,
retired Judge Richard Garner, who held admissibility hearings
every day for weeks, during which the trial lawyers
reviewed all proposed exhibits and either agreed or objected.
The objection was noted and an advisory ruling made,
the aim being to streamline the trial. A trial time limit, to
be enforced by the use of a chess clock, was established,
with defense and plaintiffs receiving equal hours.
In early January 1993, a jury including 12 alternates
was sworn, with no juror knowing his or her status. Within
a few days of the first witness, all of the defendants, except
the State of California and one small dumper, made a
8 Riverside Lawyer, May 2011